When it comes to projecting the interior design of a new office or the layout of a waiting room many people turn to the professional advice of an architect or interior designer. After all, given the amount of resources needed to create a stunning décor, this is probably the most logical thing to do. But, what if you have a sparkling imagination and want to design the layout of your rooms and the surroundings of your office by yourself? Do you really have to be an AutoCAD expert? Fortunately, no! Online, there are myriads of free design/layout tools you can use to create the layout of your dreams. This free online software requires minimal training and easy to use interfaces. In no time, you will be able to create simple and 3D programs. But what are the best free design/layout tools available online? Here is a list of the most popular and easy to use tools, so keep reading to find out which are the most intuitive software that will help you add value to all your spaces.

SketchUp

SketchUp is an intuitive online floor design tool that enables users to create custom 3D layouts in a jiff. SketchUp has a vast 3D inventory, which is great for creating a desired look. The layout building commands are easy to use, while the office furniture and break room appliances symbols can be customized to perfectly fit your model. For these reasons, with a little practice, you will be able to design floor layouts like a pro.

SketchUp is free for personal use while the commercial customers will have to purchase a license. However, the multitude of options this software offers makes it one of the best on the market. The software will let you create 3D floor plans, 2D drawings and customize every layout until you achieve the desired design. In addition, the Pro version of the tool will even allow you to export the drawing files in PDF, CAD or image files for further convenience. For advanced users, the Podium plugin can be installed to SketchUp to create amazing photo realistic floor plans.

HomeStyler

HomeStyler is high on the list of outstanding free 3D programs. It is highly accessible and perfect for a beginner designer. The neat thing about HomeStyler is it’s totally online and can be used without registration. The program is also equipped with a plethora of design elements (doors, windows and flooring) and the ability to drag, drop and resize items. In addition to the 3D viewer, HomeStyler can create precise 2D mockups and allows you to import waiting room furniture and other accents from their 3D catalog into the floorplan.

Planner 5D

Planner 5D is the one of the most intuitive floor design tools available online, Planner 5D is probably the most extensive. In fact, Planner 5D will not only allow you to create almost any interior layout you might think of but it will also allow you to create 2D and 3D floor plans for homes, bars, offices or outdoor additions. These features make Planner 5D one of the most complete free online layout tools available. To meet the needs of all users, Planner 5D is also available for Android, OS X, and iOS systems.

In addition to the features highlighted above, Planner 5D also has a vast database of design ideas, including garages, storage spaces and an option to transform your layouts into hyper-realistic HD 3D renders. The downside to this program is the extended catalog requires an investment of $9.99 for 30 day to $29.99 for unlimited access.

Planning Wiz Room Planner 3D

As soon as you arrive on the tool’s website you will be able to choose if you want to start your plan from scratch or with a room of the desired dimensions. If you need a little help, you can even start from a pre-designed template or upload the image of an office floor plan you want to use.

The tool is one of the most complete free design tools available on the web, but you will need to get familiar with it before designing the reception area layout of your dreams.

Ikea Planner Tools

Ikea brand is famous worldwide for its convenient interior design solutions and for its practical furniture. What is probably less known is the fact that Ikea has a series of layout planner tools that will help you create the design of your dreams using the Ikea storage solutions.

There are 5 different planners, each of them developed specifically for a determined type of space.

3D Kitchen Planner, as its name suggests, can be used to design the perfect layout of your kitchen.

BESTÅ Storage Planner is a tool developed to create living room layouts and designs.

Children’s Storage Planner will allow you to choose the most convenient furniture solutions for your child’s room.

3D PAX Wardrobe Planner is a tool dedicated to the creation of functional and stylish wardrobe layouts.

Office Planner is dedicated to the corporate or commercial customers that want to find the best office layout.

Final Thoughts

As you can easily imagine, listed above are only a few of the free design/layout tools available online. Depending on your skills and objective, you will surely be able to find the perfect software that will allow you to create the perfect design for your office space. Whether, you want to design a new lobby space or looking to refresh an existing floor plan, these options are easy to use and will not be a burden on your coin purse.

Here are five of the proven benefits of a strong workplace ergonomics process:

1. Ergonomics reduces costs. By systematically reducing ergonomic risk factors, you can prevent costly MSDs. With approximately $1 out of every $3 in workers compensation costs attributed to MSDs, this represents an opportunity for significant cost savings. Also, don’t forget that indirect costs can be up to twenty times the direct cost of an injury.

2. Ergonomics improves productivity. The best ergonomic solutions will often improve productivity. By designing a job to allow for good posture, less exertion, fewer motions and better heights and reaches, the workstation becomes more efficient.

3. Ergonomics improves quality. Poor ergonomics leads to frustrated and fatigued workers that don’t do their best work. When the job task is too physically taxing on the worker, they may not perform their job like they were trained. For example, an employee might not fasten a screw tight enough due to a high force requirement which could create a product quality issue.

4. Ergonomics improves employee engagement. Employees notice when the company is putting forth their best efforts to ensure their health and safety. If an employee does not experience fatigue and discomfort during their workday, it can reduce turnover, decrease absenteeism, improve morale and increase employee involvement.

5. Ergonomics creates a better safety culture. Ergonomics shows your company’s commitment to safety and health as a core value. The cumulative effect of the previous four benefits of ergonomics is a stronger safety culture for your company. Healthy employees are your most valuable asset; creating and fostering the safety & health culture at your company will lead to better human performance for your organization.

Workplace Ergonomics – Is it worth the cost?

So is an ergonomics process worth the cost? Yes, absolutely! Not only is ergonomics good for your business, it’s great for your people. As health & safety professionals, we need to be able to demonstrate the value of ergonomics to get buy-in for the process.

Good managers consider the following when making decisions:

Will this increase our revenues?

Will this decrease our costs?

Is this the right thing to do?

When considering a workplace ergonomics process, you can answer with an emphatic “YES!” to all three of these questions.

Over to you …

What are some of the benefits of ergonomics you’ve seen at your facility? Do you plan on spending increased time, attention and resources on ergonomics this year? How do you make the case for your ergonomics process?

The interior design of an office can make or break the productivity and efficiency of a business. It can even affect employee morale. Office interior design is a huge part of helping to prepare your startup for success. If you are a small business owner looking into making the move to a full-fledged office for your startup, keep reading. This post will offer up some very helpful office interior design tips from the experts. This way, you can reap the benefits of a spectacular interior design for small business start ups.

Make It Representative Of Company Culture

The first key to a great office design is to make sure that it is representative of company culture. If you take a look at Facebook headquarters in California, the office looks a lot different from the cubicles you are used to. They have an office full of millennials and a corporate culture centered around self expression. Their office’s interior design is representative of that, and that is why it has won awards. Make sure that your office interior design is reflective of your organization’s culture.

There Is No Such Thing As Too Much Light

When it comes to office design, functionality is crucial. However, your employees should also enjoy their work environment. That is why you can never have too much light in any office space. American workers spend almost 90% of waking hours inside of their offices and other indoor locations. This can often lead to negative impacts on productivity and mood. This is never a good thing for team management. That is why your employees, and therefore your business, will benefit from having as much light exposure as possible in your office design. Increasing the amount of light in your office design layout will improve productivity and office morale. This is one thing you do not want to forget.

Make Use Of Multifunctional Spaces

Modern interior design for offices focuses much on the use of multi-functional spaces. This is especially beneficial for small business owners on a budget. Multi-functional conference rooms allow you the opportunity to capitalize on limited office space and resources. Having the ability to turn a room from a totally private, enclosed space to a open area enabling transparency and collaboration is a huge advantage. If you are designing an office space on a budget, make sure you make use of multi-functional spaces including, but not limited to, multi-functional conference rooms.

Include Office Lounges

The newest trend in office interior design is the emergence of office lounge spaces. The idea is that if you feel at home at work, you will stay there more. It seems to be working for many top tech companies. There are now many office items available for employee naps and more. Employee lounges allow your employees time to relax and recuperate. This will wind up making them more productive and efficient. In addition, it will also lead to higher quality work overall. When designing an office for your start up, make sure to include employee lounge areas.

Incorporate Color

Incorporating color is another recent trend in interior design for office spaces. Color has been proven to have psychological effects. The psychology of color is an entire area of study. If you want to influence energy and focus in your employees, consider using a bold color, like red, to inspire them. Do some research on the various effects of different colors after determining what emotions you would like your employees to feel during the workday. No matter which colors you decide on, incorporating color into your office design will help motivate and inspire your employees to maintain high team morale.

If you are the proud owner of a startup looking to design an office space that encourages productivity, efficiency and collaboration, follow the tips mentioned above. You can even use these tips if you are going through the business moving process. These interior design tips for offices can help you to craft an environment that keeps employee morale high and allows employees to enjoy themselves at work. When employees are happy, they work harder. Make sure to keep employees happy with a great office interior design using the tips above.

JLL’s Pittsburgh office provides comfortable spaces for small meetings, each named after a Pittsburgh submarket. Photo Credit: Sarah Mechling.

Traditional workplace design concepts won’t cut it in the future of work. Digital technologies, like cloud computing, mobile applications and artificial intelligence (AI), are transforming the way we work. Emerging human-to-machine collaboration is dramatically changing how we work. New technologies, combined with changing workforce demographics, will continue to revolutionize why and how we work—and the types of workers doing the work. To address these workplace challenges, most companies will require new and innovative workplace design concepts. The essential enabling platform? The digital workplace ecosystem.

In nature, a healthy and sustainable ecosystem is an environment in which diverse organisms thrive and interact. Likewise, a successful digital workplace ecosystem offers a dynamic network of spaces and environments where employees and on-demand workers will feel engaged, effective and supported by the right digital and physical resources.

So, how can you cultivate a digital workplace ecosystem ready for the future of work? The following are three key success strategies:

Flexible open space provides the agility needed for the future of work in JLL’s Seattle office. Image courtesy of JLL.

1) Engage humans first and successful business outcomes will follow

The best workplaces inspire and engage humans to do their best work. And yet, according to JLL’s “Workplace—Powered By Human Experience” research, only 40 percent of employees around the world feel very engaged at work—leaving the majority of workers operating below their potential.

How can we reverse those numbers and make high engagement the norm? Put people first. Technology permeates all areas of our life today, but it doesn’t replace the human need for an authentic and personal experience. Today’s knowledge workers thrive in dynamic settings where they can be inspired by one another—or in quiet spaces if that’s more productive. High-performing digital talent will work best through a blend of flexible workplace arrangements, including creative, immersive work environments that balance collaboration areas with spaces dedicated for concentration and cognitive work activities.

Many forward-looking organizations are aiming to deliver these diverse high-performance workplace strategies and designs. Today, around 40 percent of our clients are intentionally creating activity-oriented task-based workplaces, including both unassigned seating and collaborative or specialty spaces, like a huddle booth or incubator, along with space where people are free to relax, like a café or socialization lounge. Agile workplace networks are becoming the new enterprise workplace standard.

IBM’s new offices, for example, were specifically designed to engage Millennial digital talent. Its new spaces include features like open team collaboration spaces and socialization areas with movable walls, mixed in with private spaces and soundproofed concentration rooms.

For confidential calls and heads-down work, employees in JLL’s Shanghai office can use a private workspace with a door. Image courtesy of JLL.

2) Investments in great workplace technology is essential

Technology investment is one of the most critical factors in creating an effective workplace. In a 2016 Microsoft survey of 1,000 Millennials, 93 percent said that modern, up-to-date technology was an important consideration in whether or not they’d accept a job offer.

Fortunately, the growing zeal for sophisticated technology can serve individual and organizational needs alike. Technology can bring a new dimension to the human experience, supporting comfort, convenience and connectivity. With convenient technology supporting high-performance employees, successful business outcomes follow.

At the minimum, a future-friendly workplace is one where employees and on-demand workers alike have simple, secure access to the right data and applications. They can quickly and easily share ideas on virtual collaboration platforms, leveraging cloud storage. They can use the devices they like, in the locations they want, with connectivity and security they can trust.

But organizations can go further, too, tapping into benefits of the AI and machine learning, the Internet of Things, smart building management, augmented, mixed and virtual reality technologies. Integrated workplace technologies could potentially improve your team performance, when you consider the impact of emerging technologies upon the human experience.

Employees enjoy a choice of seating and work areas, indoors or outside, in JLL’s Pittsburgh office. Photo Credit: Sarah Mechling.

3) To get agile, think outside the walls

The next-generation workforce platform is becoming the “liquid workforce,” as organizations tap into networks of freelancers and autonomous workers to scale up and down as project needs ebb and flow. Agility is a must-have to ensure that your workplace can evolve at the same pace—or more quickly—than you organization. What will your teams look like in the future? Where will different teams thrive?

To stretch or shrink, some organizations are looking outside the traditional corporate office footprint for more flexible solutions that also support today’s talent’s desire for choice. For example, some organizations are expanding their agile ecosystems with technologies that enable people to work wherever they are at any time—from an airport lounge or hotel lobby to a client site, satellite space or from home.

Other companies are offering access to coworking space such as WeWork or Carr Workplaces—or even adopting coworking practices within their own corporate workplace and real estate portfolios. A diverse mix of flexible spaces both inside and outside your corporate footprint can help ensure that your workplace ecosystem stays balanced through changing projects, personnel needs and organizational changes—without your organization taking on more long-term lease commitments than needed.

How resilient is your workplace ecosystem?

But more change is inevitable. New visions of work continue to emerge. Competing in the future will depend on how well workplace leaders master the human experience, technology investments and the ability to change with continuous agility. Future-focused organizations will stop looking at the workplace as a fixed place, but rather as a dynamic digital workplace ecosystem with the aim to engage and fully empower their future digital workforce.

For business owners and office interior design companies, furniture is one of the most important considerations. Any functional office design has to provide desks, chairs and other furniture for work tasks to be carried out and the well-being of staff may depend on this furniture being of high quality.

In this post, we take a look at some workplace innovations related to furniture and take a closer look at the office furniture you can expect to see more of in the years ahead.

SMART FURNITURE

In recent years, the health consequences of sitting in an office for eight hours a day have become more apparent. Indeed, according to Get Britain Standing, this sedentary lifestyle has been associated with problems ranging from back ache to heart disease and diabetes, and one possible solution is the sit-stand desk.

This technology, and other similar ‘smart furniture’, can help to alleviate health problems within the office by serving as a sort of ‘Fit-Bit for the office’, increasing activity levels during the day. In return for this investment, businesses can hope to see reduced levels of absenteeism and staff turnover.

3D PRINTING

One of the major workplace innovations businesses and office interior design companies will have to adapt to in the coming years relates to the emergence of 3D printing. Although not yet viable or the purposes of creating workplace furniture, Forbes point out that Rapid Liquid Printing could make this a reality in the near future.

Clearly, such technology could make a huge difference to everyone involved in the process, from designers to business owners and office fit out contractors, because delivery times would be eliminated.

However, the potential actually goes much further. The use of 3D printing within office furniture design could allow for furniture to be fully customized, with adjustments being made to the size and height of chairs and tables, or the shape of backrests, so that they fit individual workers, or fit into the available space more easily.

OTHER TRENDS

Another recent office furniture trend, which is likely to gain even more popularity in the future, is the presence of sleep pods in the workplace. This technology has already been adopted by companies like Google and Uber, allowing staff to take short naps, and there is evidence that this improves productivity.

Ben and Jerry’s have had a dedicated nap room for more than a decade, and there are a number of options for such facilities, including pods, chairs and beds. Meanwhile, shoe retailer Zappos has massage chairs in its Las Vegas headquarters, helping to reduce the levels of stress among staff and alleviate problems like backache.

With the increased prevalence of telecommuting, these type of workplace luxuries are likely to become more commonplace, as businesses attempt to provide value that cannot be replicated from home or the coffee shop.

“If you are expecting people to commute every morning to get to a specific place, there has to be some pay-off,” says Jim Keane, CEO of Steelcase, in a feature for Wired. “It has to be the best place they can work. If their dining room is better than the office you provide, then they should stay at home.”

Applying workplace ergonomics through a continuous improvement process is essential for enterprise sustainability. A good ergonomics process plays a key role in unlocking new areas for improvement. By improving employees’ ability to perform at their best in your systems, ergonomics is uniquely suited to deliver high impact, low cost benefits.

Workplace ergonomics is often recognized as a means to minimize the costs and consequences of work-related ergonomics injuries (or musculoskeletal disorders – MSDs). It’s necessary and effective in that process, but a strategic approach that broadens the scope and impact of your ergonomics program brings significant production improvements and returns well beyond reducing injuries.

Conclusion

Companies that seek to improve performance must include ergonomics engineering in their business processes. All the best design and build efforts go to waste if the opportunities and constraints of the human interactions in the system are neglected. If we wait, it quickly becomes too late, and the blame games begin. If we recognize and optimize the human role in process and facilities design, we’re more likely to do things right the first time, reducing costs, improving production outcomes, and moving closer to the perfection sustainable enterprises seek.

Put a good person in a bad system and the bad system wins, no contest.W. Edwards Deming

Office Snapshots stays true to its mission of inspiring office design. Highlighting some of the most innovative and stunning offices around the world, it’ll provide you with some captivating ideas for the next reno!

This popular site is the most widely read workplace design and management blog in the UK – but not to worry, there’s still plenty of content applicable to the North American reader! Covering a wide range of office trends relevant to ‘people, places and technology,’ Workplace Insight is one you’ll want to keep up with.

‘Exploring ideas that shape the places we work’ is the slogan at Work Design Magazine. By subscribing, you’ll get access to thought-provoking articles that focus on human behaviour and draw implications for office design.

With exciting posts centered around business leadership, culture and productivity, you’ll also find some brilliant reads on how particular office features affect the individual worker at Enviable Workplace!

iOffice is an IWMS provider; however, the engaging blog posts on its website delve beyond the logistics of facility management and provide industry news and trends for workspace design and office communication strategies.

Sensyst Blog by the Business Interiors Group provides detailed accounts of products you might find in your office – especially furniture, in addition to general tips on design. You’ll learn lots in preparation for the next furniture purchase or design layout decision!

Experts say it’s time to move in these design directions to keep workers engaged and get the most out of your work environment.

You might think that the reams of analysis done on office space would have by now turned every workplace into a humming hive of engagement and productivity. Earlier this year, we even got an advance look at a research paper that outlined alternative design strategies to make workers happier.

The paper, Ethonomics: Designing For The Principles Of The Modern Workplace–authored by Teknion, in collaboration with design expertslike Joan Blumenfeld, principal of Perkins+Will, one of this year’s Most Innovative Companies–revealed that the workplace is ripe for reinvention.

As Blumenfeld told Fast Company:

Workspaces should flex to provide a variety of spaces and destinations for workers to inhabit that promote movement throughout the day. While many companies are doing a good job of incorporating some of these elements into their workplace design, there’s a need for more awareness and implementation of this way of thinking holistically about the workplace.

Approaching the New Year seems like as good a time as any to say out with the old walls that block natural light, separation of departments, major investments in public spaces at the expense of the back office and other design elements that bum workers out, and in with creative solutions that bring people together in ways they can be at their best.

We talked to the design experts at Teknion, Poppin, a manufacturer of workplace furniture and accessories, and Workwell Partners, a design firm specializing in creating efficient spaces to see what they predict are the most useful trends for 2016. Here’s what they told us.

TREND #1: HIDING THE WIRES

Scott Lesizza, principal at Workwell Partners says one of his clients’ most requested solutions is help with eliminating wires and clutter from desktops and conference rooms. “Between wires, laptops and other electronic devices, to docking stations, paperwork and personal items, there are many things that can make a room full of open desks appear very disorganized,” says Lesizza. Even a $30,000 conference table can look terrible if wires are not well concealed within the table, he observes. “Luckily we are seeing more manufacturers develop solutions that are clean and simple,” he says.

PHOTO: SLYDE CHARGING SOLUTIONS

TREND #2: BRINGING THE OUTDOORS IN

Lesizza says nature is having a serious moment in design. Reclaimed wood panel installations, exposed concrete flooring, and incorporating natural flora patterns in fabrics and artwork are all becoming more prominent, along with plant life itself in the form of living walls, he says. “Some of our favorite pieces and projects from the last year take a page from this trend, and also go hand in hand with one of the bigger trends: bringing the home into the office,” says Lesizza. “It’s the natural, cozy feeling that a lot of these finishes and details have that will continue to make this trend a popular one throughout 2016.”

PHOTO: CARLO PONTI PHOTOGRAPHY

TREND #3: MULTIPURPOSE WORKSPACES

Lesizza observes that in his 20 years in the design business, he’s never seen change happen so quickly. “Not only are cubicles disappearing,” says Lesizza, “but now their replacement–the bench–is being overtaken by non-assigned seating.” The executive suite is still not playing to this trend, however; multipurpose spaces can be utilized for everything from multimedia presentations to casual breakout areas. “We’ll also see more oval-shaped office desks, which allow for a more convenient place for 4-6 people to meet, as well as a shift toward height adjustable tables for standing meetings,” he says.

PHOTO: PETER DRESSEL

TREND #4: DESIGNATED LOUNGE AREAS

Jeff Miller, a veteran of Apple and Herman Miller who’s now vice president of design at Poppin sees a move toward creating spaces that are the antithesis of rigid workstations. “Lighter, powerful, wireless technology has untethered the workspace more than ever,” Miller notes, so offices can be more comfortable, which stimulates relaxed collaboration. “Offices now mandate the inclusion of dedicated lounge areas to make working more enjoyable,” Miller says.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF DOAR

TREND #5: OFFICES ORGANIZED BY COLOR

“I’m a strong believer that if you organize your work environment with color, it will help your thoughts be more organized and colorful,” says Miller. He cites several studies that color boosts happiness, productivity and creativity. “We’re seeing more offices integrate pops of color in unexpected ways and therefore strive to be at the forefront of offering a wide color spectrum of accessories and furniture,” Miller explains.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF DOAR

TREND #6: COMMUNITY TABLES

Steve Delfino, vice president of Corporate Marketing and Product Management at Teknion says the community table reflects a cultural moment. “People are looking for more interaction at work and in other public settings, including restaurants and hotels where large shared tables are making an appearance,” he observes. But the community table has been a meaningful object for centuries, a symbol of kinship or alliance that is now becoming an important part of the work environment, Delfino adds. “Today, the table emerges as a relevant feature of an evolving workplace that now exhibits many of the characteristics of a domicile—more relaxed, more congenial and collaborative,” he says.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF TEKNION

TREND #7: A MIX OF DIFFERENT TEXTURES

Delfino says he’s seeing an increased emphasis on using varied materials throughout the workplace to create environments that influence wellness and productivity. “Products with a rich material vocabulary provide designers with the opportunity to be original and bold—to use color and texture to create a more varied, inspiring and personalized work environment,” he says.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF TEKNION

TREND #8: THE END OF PERMANENT LAYOUTS

Flexibility is something all three design experts are seeing as a growing trend as traditional office spaces, planned in advance with permanent layouts, are giving way to the needs of an ever-changing work landscape. Delfino notes that products designed to have every element move into place and fit together without rules based planning are at the forefront of the office of the future. “Modular components can be mixed, stacked and moved around, offering innumerable combinations for a dynamic and collaborative workplace,” he says.

Follow these quick and easy office ergonomics tips to decrease fatigue, discomfort and physical stress while also increasing comfort and productivity.

Ergonomics” is the science of designing the workstation to fit within the capabilities and limitations of the worker.

The goal of office ergonomics is to design your office work station so that it fits you and allows for a comfortable working environment for maximum productivity and efficiency.

An ergonomically correct office work station will help you avoid fatigue and discomfort – who doesn’t want that? Whether you’re an OHS professional in charge of providing a safe work environment for the employees at your company or simply a computer user who wants to avoid fatigue, following a few simple guidelines can help you significantly improve your office work station.

Office Ergonomics Tips

Follow these 10 office ergonomics tips to help you avoid fatigue:

1) Make sure that the weight of your arms is supported at all times. If your arms are not supported, the muscles of your neck and shoulders will be crying by the end of the day.

2) Watch your head position, and try to keep the weight of your head directly above its base of support (neck). Don’t “crane” your head and neck forward.

3) Don’t be a slouch! Slouching puts more pressure on the discs and vertebrae of your back. Use the lumbar support of your chair and avoid sitting in a way that places body weight more on one than on the other. Move your chair as close to your work as possible to avoid leaning and reaching. Make sure to “scoot” your chair in every time you sit down.

4) The monitor should be placed directly in front of you, with the top no higher than eye level. The keyboard should be directly in front of the monitor so you don’t have to frequently turn your head and neck.

5) Talking on the phone with the phone receiver jammed between the neck and ear is really bad practice. You know that’s true, so don’t do it!

6) The keyboard and the mouse should close enough to prevent excessive reaching which strains the shoulders and arms.

7) Avoid eye strain by making sure that your monitor is not too close, it should be at least an arm’s length away.

8) Take steps to control screen glare, and make sure that the monitor is not placed in front of a window or a bright background.

9) You can rest your eyes periodically for several seconds by looking at objects at a distance to give your eyes a break.

10) The feet should not be dangling when you are seated. If your feet don’t comfortably reach the floor or there is pressure on the backs of your legs, use a footrest or lower the keyboard and chair.

Bonus: Care for your musculoskeletal system

Avoid fatigue at the office by taking good care of your musculoskeletal system. Drink plenty of water, get plenty of exercise, take stretch breaks and avoid prolonged periods of sitting.

Office space planning is an essential requirement in any office relocation or expansion.

To figure out how to best utilize the space, create a strong culture, and maximize efficiency, you are going to have to do some office space planning.

There are many ways that you can plan the layout to make it comfortable and conducive for work. To properly plan your office space, it’s vital that you consider things from your team member’s perspective.

Plan in Advance

Finding the right new office space for your business takes time and once a few buildings or spaces have been selected to consider, you’ll want to start the space planning process at least 9 months before you intend to move in.

A great first step is to interview several architects/space planners and select a professional that understands your business objectives in detail.

Talented space planners can quickly interpret how the organization operates, make suggestions to improve efficiency and flow, which will translate into a design that balances company vision, space utilization, department adjacencies, and future growth.

Not to mention, the scope of work will be outlined, saving you and your team a ton of time which will allow you to focus on your own business.

1. What do you need?

When beginning your planning process, think first about how your business will use a space.

Will each of your employees need a dedicated workspace or can you utilize a more open floor plan? Does your business have customers visiting often? These are questions you must think about well in advance.

Your office space should support your business, not the other way around.

Think function.

For example, you shouldn’t be paying for a conference room you never use, or holding your meetings in a cramped office because your space does not have enough breakout rooms to collaborate.

Here is a worksheet to help you along.

2. Room for Growth?

Companies aim to grow, not to remain stagnant.

As jobs increase and new business develops, you will find yourself in need of more space to house employees in every department.

To properly plan for growth, you should take into account your current headcount and compare it to your future growth projections by department, while still being able to operate efficiently.

By analyzing and understanding what the maximum headcount may look like over 3 to 5 years, you limit any foreseeable hiccups in the future regarding your occupancy situation.

Plan for future employees now so that when your company does grow, you’ll already have a place to put them.

There are risks to planning big, however. If you are unable to meet your growth goals, you may end up with too much office space to use.

You may need to consider subleasing your office in this case, or re-evaluating your space planning so be sure there is a sublease provision in your lease that addresses this potential issue.

3. Open Spaces or Cubicles?

One of the ongoing debates that have been raging in the office space planning community for a long time is whether it’s better to have an open plan or enclosed cubicles.

Which direction should you take? Should you consider an open plan?

That decision strongly depends on your industry and what makes your team perform.

Do you get better results by your team collaborating and interacting or do your employees perform better in a focused, productivity driven environment?

We can’t deny that people are working differently these days but also can’t ignore that some don’t want to change their work style.

Generational dynamics have been much more at play as technology has dramatically impacted our workplace. I suggest leaning on your professional space planner for conceptual ideas as perhaps a hybrid of the two may be suitable for your company.

Creating different zones for private, focused work (quiet rooms) and open space for your team to interact is a good solution that addresses alternative work styles.

4. Going Remote?

With the growth of cloud computing, many businesses have begun utilizing remote working plans to give their employees a bit more freedom in working from home or away from the office.

If your company has a remote working policy, your selected space planner may consider the space utilization ratio (or percentage of time the employee spends in the office) as they develop the most efficient, cost effective layout.

For example, you may have 100 employees, but only 70 of them are in the office at any one time. This factor may provide an opportunity to shrink the footprint and create a workspace arrangement (ie. hoteling environments) that is more cost effective.

A good idea may be to include an area where the floor plan is flexible with movable furniture which allows you to keep your office comfortable no matter how many or how few employees show up in-person on a given day.

5. Special Considerations?

Rooms for specific uses such as a larger lunchroom, break rooms or private meeting areas may be necessary for your business and unnecessary for others. We are seeing many more companies create a business lounge environment for their staff to eat lunch so you may not want to dedicate too little space to your lunch room.

Appliances for use in the office should also be taken into account when setting the layout for this room, as well.

Do you have a space to hold video conferences with your remote workers?

Is there space for technology, such as servers or cables and wiring?

How about a copier, fax machine and charging station?

Will you need an employee dedicated to this room in its entirety?

If so, where will they be located, inside the room or just outside? All of these things have a marked effect on your overall office space planning layout.

Seeing the Big Picture

Some offices may only need minimal construction to move into, as there are existing conditions in place to take advantage of, but this is not always the case.

If your office is not too large (less than 50 people) it may make sense to work directly with the Landlord’s architect and contractor to plan and build your space.

But in many situations & projects, it makes sense to speak with a professional that has your best interests in mind, can speak on the current trends and can walk you through the office space planning process in detail.